4 foods we must eat more to live long and healthy

Some time back while staying at Atmantan, a wellness resort near Pune, I had sweet potato (cooked interestingly) for two meals in a row — sweet potato-stuffed parantha for breakfast, and then as a base (mashed and mixed with zucchini) for a grilled salmon dish. Both were so delicious that it made me wonder why don’t we eat these powerhouse root vegetables more often, especially when they have a lot going for them nutritionally too.

The problem is that very often we just fall in the rut of eating a set of three-four vegetables again and again — potatoes are more in your face, so why try out sweet potatoes? Similarly, carrots are more easily available, so let the beets be... and don’t really go out rummaging the vegetable market for more interesting options to cook and eat.

And this is a huge loss, as all vegetables offer something unique. So the golden rule is to eat them all by rotation to score varied benefits and also to make your plate far more exciting.  That’s why I am bringing attention back to four vegetables, including sweet potatoes that I see missing in most grocery lists (and thus kitchens) these days.

Turnip

This root vegetable may not look impressive, but it’s a mistake to skip it for this reason. It’s extremely low calorie (250gm gives only 70 calories) and that's why can be a great addition to an effective weight-loss programme.

It also delivers heart healthy potassium, lots of fibre to keep our gut happy, significant amount of iron and calcium, enough vitamin C, an immune booster, a healthy dose of B vitamins, and some effective antioxidants — vitamin E, manganese and beta carotene.

Ignore it and miss all these goodies for your health. And here’s the best news: turnips also contain phytonutrients called indoles that help cut the risk of lung and colorectal cancer.

It is a powerful anti-inflammatory food which help stunt asthma symptoms and keeps the heart in the pink.

Eat Them: Don’t find the vegetable exciting, than make an effort: bake it with potato, cook it with interesting seasonings, squish it into a soup — but include it in the diet somehow. In recipes I often swap turnip roots for potatoes and use their greens in place of spinach.

Sweet potato

Sweet potatoes are a very effective constipation-relieving food, thanks to the extremely high-fibre content. By the way, they contain more fibre than potatoes — 250gm contain about 200 calories and 7.5gm of fibre (same amount of potatoes deliver 5gm).

They are a high-resistant starch (RS) food. RS functions like soluble, fermentable fibre, which reaches the intestines and helps boost the good bacteria, so that takes care of your gut too. Also, they are loaded with essential B vitamins — niacin (B3) pantothenic acid (B5) and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), have a lot of antioxidants (vitamins C, A and E), and though they are starch-heavy, the good news is that their natural sugars are slowly released into the bloodstream. So, they don’t cause sugar spikes.

Another good news is that sweet potatoes are a natural antacid, so those prone to heartburn must include them more often in their diet.

Eat Them: Now who doesn’t like the shakarkandi chaat. Try to have more of that (instead of the french fries). Besides roasting, they can be boiled and pureed too, and added to a lot of dishes.

Kohlrabi

This spherical vegetable is a disease-fighting powerhouse that most of us have forgotten the very existence of. Which is sad because a lot many people worldwide still consider it important enough include in their diets. For example, Poles crunch it raw like a fruit, but we Indians now hardly ever make the nice, spicy curry with them most of us grew up eating. Time to get it back on your plate. Why?

Well, because it delivers even more vitamin C than oranges (250gm delivers 155mg, oranges give 130mg), has lots of cancer and inflammation busting phytochemicals, and the potassium in it keeps nerves and muscle functioning optimally and blood pressure sorted.

It also delivers a lot of fibre and some manganese, iron, and calcium.

Eat Them: So add this to your grocery list and dig out that curry recipe. By the way it is delightfully crunch and mildly sweet, so is a great addition to salads too. Try this: mix grated kohlrabi, carrots, cabbage and onions, add some vinegar, mayonnaise, seasonings and honey. Chill and have.

Jackfruit

It is important to develop a taste for this tasty fibrous food because of the nutrition punch it delivers. It is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, magnesium, besides giving some protein and lots of fibre.

A cup (150gm) will give about 140 calories, 2.6gm protein and 2.3gm fibre. Abundant A (and some flavonoid pigments like xanthin, lutein) in it helps maintain sharp eyes (and smooth skin) and it is a mean cancer fighter too as it is loaded with lignans, isoflavones and saponins, which have anti-cancer and anti-aging properties. Jackfruit chips anyone!

Eat them: It is remarkably similar in texture to chicken, making it an excellent vegetarian substitute for meat. Mostly it is had fried or as a curry (goes very well with coconut flavour).

Also read: 5 foods that should be banned in India